Sorrows Furnace

Sorrows Furnace – Timon Tan

Kathy shivered. It was cold. Freezing, chilly, bitter. Her entire body was shivering, teeth chattering. She gripped the coat even tighter, curling into a tiny ball, maximizing body heat. It was something she just did, a natural instinct. She did not knew the science behind it, but just did.

“Cold…” She muttered involuntary through the clattering of her teeth. She gave no mind to her surroundings, just minding on the cold. The cold and keeping warmth was all that was on her mind…cold…cold…

“Here. Drink this. You need water.” A voice came off from across. She slowly peered out, a pour of water dripped onto her lips. Instead of savoring it, she coughed, spitting it out. Her mouth was dry, frozen…too dry, too dry to consume the water that dampen it, it would take a while.

She tried to speak, but her throat was hoarse. No sound came from it. She tried to reach out, desperate to communicate to whomever it was, the person who aided her with the live giving water. She stretched out her tiny hand out of the covers, immediately sensing the cold, than slowly retreat. But before she could completely retreat, a foreign hand reach out, touching her fingers. She flinched.

She just realized her fingers were numb, she had never had such feeling before and was thus shocked. She never had been so cold, to such intensity that she could not feel parts of her body. It was just all foreign to her…in her mind, there was no such idea to what it was yet. She did not know what to do, just except to retreat further into her cocoon…her eyes closed. She went placid again…too cold…cold…have to…have to…sleep…want to sleep…comfortable…nice…warm.

“No. Don’t sleep! Do not sleep! No!” The voiced shouted! Senseless…meaningless. It did not mean anything to her…besides, the noise was getting further away from her. From crystal clear to muffled, than to no noise at all…

Kathy reached out to her mom. Her tall figure towered over Kathy as she talked to the receptionist. She turned her head, looking at Kathy smiling, rubbing her head, than turned her attention back to the receptionist.

Kathy than gazed outside to the snow. It was cold in the mountains, she did not want to go out, rather preferred to stay indoor where it was warm. To her amazement, there were kids her age outdoors curling snow into their palm, flicking it at one another, building figures made of snow, just simply enjoy the cold rather than the warmth.

Her dad stood next to her mom, talking to the receptionist as well. He rummaged through his bag looking for something, than found it, his credit card. Than out of the blue, a scream!

“Avalanche!”

Kathy turned her head to where the voice came from. It came from outside, it was one of the kids. They were now running in all directions, some to the left, some to the right, and some towards the entrance of the building. They busted through, crying for their parents, pointing towards the direction of the entrance.

Kathy’s parents and all the people in the building turned their attention to what was going on outside. Kathy crept behind her mother’s legs, clamping her hands around it tightly as her eyes remain fixed outside in fear and amazement. A cloud of white was approaching the building. It traveled with shocking speed, stunning those who saw it, only being able to blink before the cloud engulfed them. Kathy screamed just as the glass shattered and snow poured into the building silencing her and everyone else…


“NO!” The voice shouted again, than pain all over her! She shrieked.

“Shut up! Shut up! You’ll bring the roof down!” She still shrieked as her body responded in the impending pain. The person had shaken her physically, shaken her sense back to conscious. The sudden contact drove her nerves wild…it was all muddled up…pain! Pain!

She subsided in her scream, eventually stopping. She was now fully conscious.

“Come on. You cannot sleep, or you’ll die!”

Die. Die. She recognized the word. Die. Pass on. Depart from her life. No she did not want to die.

“Get up.”

She tried her best, summoning strength from within. Slowly, she opened her eyes, looking straight forward. She saw in front of her, a figure, a figure of a boy, an older boy.

“Good. Wear these, they’re oversized but dry. I took off your clothes earlier as they were wet with snow.” He slowly helped her up, leaning against the snowy wall still covered in the coat. He passed her a t-shirt, pants and a woolly jacket. It was all too big, the shirt covering her whole body, but still better than nothing, it was the only dry clothes he could find. She quickly wore the pants and wrapped the jacket all around herself, than tucked in her legs, resting her head between it, thawing her fingers between her legs and chest, not bothering to look up.

“Its all right. We’ll be all right. I found food and water, and I have started digging a hole out of here, it won’t be long now. They’ll find us, rescuers will find us.” The boy said as he crawled over to the girl.

He tried to look at her face, but she just dug her head further into her jacket. He tried something daring, he reached out and lifted her head up, hoping to get a glimpse, wanting to give support, instead she jerked away, again digging into her legs, retreating into herself. He let go for a while, than tried again.

“What’s your name? I’m Josh.”

“Where’s mummy?” She muttered.

Josh stood stunned for a moment. He could not answer that question. He had found many dead earlier. He knew her mother was one of them as he found the girl hugging the corpse that of a woman. The father was probably dead too, holding onto the woman’s hand, frozen. There were no other survivors except him and the girl.

“I…I..” He stammered.

“Where’s Mummy? Where’s mummy?” She said again, this time more distressed.

“I…don’t know.” It was all he could say.

“WHERE’S MUMMY?! WHERE’S DADDY!” She began to shriek again in a high pitch voice.

“Shut up! Shut up! They’re, they’re dead! They’re dead! All right!” He shouted at the spur of the moment. No! I should not have said that! I should not have said that!

Kathy absorbed that for a moment, letting it come to her what it meant, than, her eyes grew watery. Josh spotted it.

“I’m…I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He whispered, slumping against the snow wall. Now what? What did I do? What am I going to do!

Kathy cried. Her sobbing was as loud as ever. It was only the two of them. Though she was still small, it was amplified through what Josh knew had happen, and why she was crying. I don’t know what to do, how to comfort the girl! He cried out in his mind.

She cried for about a minute or so, and still cried on as Josh sat in thought. What would mummy do? What would daddy do? He recalled back to his days when he was sad…he would cry in their arms…he would lean on their shoulders and bask in their comfort…he would-.

Josh crept over slowly to the girl, slowly again, he lifted her head, meeting eye to eye with her. They looked in each other’s eye, realizing the equal pain and sorrow they both shared. He blinked, she blinked. She pulled away for a minute, than buried her face into his arms, crying again for what must seem like eternity…